1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an imaging element and in particular a photographic imaging element having a dyed non-imaging layer.
It is conventional practice to incorporate an absorbing dye into a non-imaging layer in a photographic element to absorb light in a specific wavelength region. The dyed non-imaging layer is used, for example, to control spectral composition of light incident upon a photographic emulsion layer, to act as an antihalation layer between the support and the photographic emulsion layer or on the side of the support opposite to the photographic emulsion layer to prevent halation caused by light scattering during and after the passage of light through the photographic emulsion layer, and to absorb or remove ultraviolet light produced by static discharge, which can occur during the separation of the front and back side of an imaging element at relatively low humidity.
Different methods for incorporating an absorbing dye into a non-imaging layer have been described including the dispersion of an oil soluble dye with a high boiling organic solvent. However, when such dispersions in high boiling organic solvents are used, the dyed non-imaging layer is softened and the mechanical strength of the layer is lowered. Furthermore, many dyes themselves are liquid, and they therefore can have a detrimental effect on the mechanical properties of the layer and adhesion with the adjacent layers.
Efforts to reduce such detrimental effects include the use of particulate dye dispersions, the impregnation of polymer latices with hydrophobic material such as dye and the emulsifying and dispersing of a mixed solution containing an oil soluble dye and a water-insoluble, organic solvent soluble polymer. There is a need for improved light absorbing non-imaging layers in imaging elements having excellent physical and mechanical properties.